AUSTIN — With little time left in this session, a lawmaker is pleading to his colleagues to pass legislation aimed at investigating wrongful convictions to determine what went wrong so such mistakes can be avoided in future cases.

“This is a plea for help,” Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said in reference to House Bill 166, which would create the Timothy Cole Exoneration Review Commission. “So, I hope you get the word out.”

The measure, authored by Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, was named after Timothy Cole, the Texas Tech student who died in prison in the late 1990s, 15 years after being sentenced for a rape he did not commit.

Ellis, the sponsor of HB 116 in the Senate, said though he thinks he has the votes in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee — the panel that will decide whether the measure is sent to the Senate floor for consideration — he is five votes short in the 31-member chamber.

“We are challenging our colleagues in the Senate and the leadership in the state” to pass the bill, Ellis said at a news conference with McClendon and Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Denton, as well as three wrongfully convicted Texans who are now free.

Two weeks ago, HB 166 passed in the House with a 115-28 vote.

But in the Senate — because of the chamber’s rule requiring two-thirds of the senators present to bring a bill to the floor for consideration — it needs a minimum of 21 votes. So far, Ellis only has 16, he said.